Your Lunch Can Wait

When watching the “Yik Yak” response video, something that I found interesting was the justifications people gave for their arguments against the Black Lives Matter protests happening on campus. People stated that the protests interfered with their study or eating schedule and that “these kinds” of protests aren’t necessary on the 5c campuses because we are already socially aware. But, in reality, these people who are saying that they don’t think an on-campus protest is important really don’t understand the main message of the Black Lives Matter movement. They don’t understand that as a community, we need to stand up for Black lives. People who aren’t being given a voice and whose basic rights are being taken away should be given the stage.

Like this:

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I was also shocked by the Yik Yak responses to the Black Lives Matter Protests. Maybe I’m too optimistic, but I thought that members of the liberal leaning Claremont Consortium would be more supportive. These responses reveal that the climate of the Claremont Colleges needs to be changed. This semester we have a great opportunity to educate our fellow classmates about why the Black Lives Matter movement exists, what it stands for, and how they can get involved. Let’s change our consortium’s climate so that everyone feels their voice can be heard and respects those who are speaking out!

The mentality (“we’re above racism, we’re a liberal arts school”) many people posting to Yik Yak had is very dangerous. People believe they know enough about the issue and become blind to the injustices occurring around them, making it all the more challenging to address the problems on our campus.

I also feel inclined to point out this mask that people seem to put on when they are using different forms of media. I feel racism is even harder to combat now because it is getting harder to distinguish between people’s virtual and physical identities and personas. We don’t exactly know who needs to be educated or who has these anti-black thoughts, which is at least for me as a black student very scary.

I think the whole purpose of protesting somewhere that creates an inconvenience for students is the exact point. These voices are getting ignored, so directly interfering with everyday activities seems vital in order for people to pay attention. So sad that a there is such a huge disconnect for so many people.

^^^This is exactly what I was thinking, but I didn’t know how to say it, so thank you!! It’s so true, black lives are “interrupted” everyday and we here at school have so much privilege so it really is disturbing that many people can’t recognize that.